Em frente ao Hospital de Sto. António, no Porto, há um café pelo qual passo todos os dias quando saio do trabalho e me dirijo para a paragem do autocarro. Esse café, cujo nome nunca retive, ocupa quase todo o rés do chão de um prédio de esquina e conta com uma grande fachada envidraçada, junto à qual se encontram as melhores mesas, as que têm vista para a rua. Tenho a certeza absoluta que não foi a primeira vez que vi o António a ler ali, mais ou menos àquela hora, mas só naquele dia me decidi a entrar no café para lhe pedir que me deixasse fotografá-lo. O António lia "Diz-me Quem Sou" de Julia Navarro, uma autora espanhola que não conhecia. Tinha visto uma entrevista sua na televisão e como tinha lido e gostado de outros autores espanhóis — nomeadamente Carlos Ruiz Zafón ou Ildefonso Falcones —, decidiu avançar para a leitura deste romance. O livro, no entanto, não estava a suscitar grande entusiasmo. A leitura revelou-se agradável o suficiente para ocupar os tempos livres. "Vai-se lendo", afirmou. Para registar o momento, decidi voltar à rua e fotografar o António tal como o vi quando passei pelo café a caminho da paragem do autocarro.
In Porto, in front of Santo António Hospital, there is a coffee shop that I walk by every day when I get out of work and go to the bus stop. That coffee shop, which name I can't ever retain, has a huge window where the best tables are, the ones with a street view. I am pretty sure that this time wasn't the first that I saw António reading there, around the same time of the day, but it was only then that I decided to go in to the coffee shop where I had never been before to ask him if I could take his photo. António was reading "Diz-me Quem Sou", by Julia Navarro, a Spanish author that he had never heard about before. After watching her being interviewed on TV, he decided to give her novel a chance, mostly because he had already read and liked other Spanish authors like Carlos Ruiz Zafón and Ildefonso Falcones. However, he was not very enthusiastic about the book. Reading it was just pleasant enough to fulfill the free time. " It's ok", he said. To capture the moment, I went back to the street and pictured António just like I saw him when I walked by the coffee shop on my way to the bus stop.
Translated by Marisa Silva
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In Porto, in front of Santo António Hospital, there is a coffee shop that I walk by every day when I get out of work and go to the bus stop. That coffee shop, which name I can't ever retain, has a huge window where the best tables are, the ones with a street view. I am pretty sure that this time wasn't the first that I saw António reading there, around the same time of the day, but it was only then that I decided to go in to the coffee shop where I had never been before to ask him if I could take his photo. António was reading "Diz-me Quem Sou", by Julia Navarro, a Spanish author that he had never heard about before. After watching her being interviewed on TV, he decided to give her novel a chance, mostly because he had already read and liked other Spanish authors like Carlos Ruiz Zafón and Ildefonso Falcones. However, he was not very enthusiastic about the book. Reading it was just pleasant enough to fulfill the free time. " It's ok", he said. To capture the moment, I went back to the street and pictured António just like I saw him when I walked by the coffee shop on my way to the bus stop.
Translated by Marisa Silva
2 comentários:
Sou do Porto e passo perto do Hospital de Santo António várias vezes mas não estou a ver qual é o café... é do lado das urgências? É que me parece tão ajeitadinho para ler um livro e como já há poucos espaços assim, gostava de saber exatamente onde fica.
Nota: O seu blogue é delicioso. E já me deu algumas ideias de leitura. Obrigada.
Dulce/Porto
Isto e' definitivamente um incentivo 'a leitura, estar assim num cafe' e entrar uma miuda que mete conversa connosco, ah que delicia, e' primavera.
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